Making the national team can be a make or break factor in the careers of athletes. Those that make the team can take onboard support and funding as they pursue their ambitions. Those that miss out, however, face an altogether less comfortable reality.
In the past couple of weeks, several federations have revealed their national squads for the coming 2024 season. In the cases of Britain and Germany, a couple of noteworthy names have missed out.
Sian Rainsley is one such athlete that has been cut from the British squad.
After injury forced her out of much of the season, Rainsley raced sparingly in 2023. She won a silver medal at the European Cup in Caorle and helped the British team to silver at the European Games Mixed Team Relay (she finished 11th in the individual event). Without being able to race, her world ranking has sunk to 178th. In total, twelve British women now rank ahead of her.
At the start of 2023, we ranked Rainsley 26th in the women’s top-30 triathletes in the world. A former European Championships medallist, she logged WTCS finishes of 8th (Hamburg), 15th (Leeds) and 16th (Yokohama) in 2022 after making her WTCS debut in 2021. In 2022, she also helped Britain to the gold medal at the Mixed Team Relay in Hamburg. Being born in 1997, her performances thus showed plenty of potential.
On the other hand, the sheer depth of British women’s triathlon right now necessitates tough decisions. Funding and resources are finite and with four WTCS medallists in 2023 alone, the federation has a clear cohort of athletes to prioritise in the immediate term.
In total, nineteen athletes have been included in British Triathlon’s World Class Programme, two of whom are on a six month trial membership. Ten of the athletes are women, most of whom are currently ranked ahead of Rainsley. One outlier is Olympic Mixed Team Relay medallist, Jessica Learmonth, who has been on a maternity absence.
Rainsley was nevertheless gracious in acknowledging the support she had received until this point.
Meanwhile, Jannik Schaufler voiced his disappointment on social media after he did not make the German national team. He noted that he was removed from the German squad after winning a silver medal at the Super Sprint European U23 Championships in 2018 and made his frustration known.
In 2023, he finished 2nd at the European Cup in Kitzbühel and finished 6th and 9th at the World Cups in Tiszaujvaros and Valencia, respectively.
Even without being on the German team, he was put onto WTCS start lists for the country. He made his debut in Abu Dhabi and went on to log a personal best finish of 18th in Montreal. Like Rainsley, Schaufler was born in 1997 and can be expected to hit his prime years.
Right now, Schaufler is ranked 60th in the world and six German man stand ahead of him. Among them are Olympic qualifiers and WTCS medallists Lasse Lührs und Tim Hellwig.
In total, the German national squad consists of twenty-six athletes, of which twenty are in the senior squad and six are in the development squad consisting of Junior athletes. The five athletes that have already qualified for the Olympic Games are the first names in the senior squad.
Among the six men to make the senior squad in addition to Hellwig and Lührs are 2023 World Cup medallists Lasse Nygaard Priester and Jonas Schomburg and the World U23 champion Simon Henseleit.
The senior squad has an developmental aspect too with the likes of Jan Diener, Henry Graf and Fabian Schönke (all born in 2002 or later) included.
Eric Diener, the 4th place finisher at the World U23 Championships in 2022, has not made the team, nor has Valentin Wernz, a 2023 World Cup medallist and ranked 37th in the world.
It is a difficult and frustrating experience to be on the outside of the national squad and not have the same funding as those on the team. Triathlon is an expensive sport and the travel and equipment costs are particularly steep. Athletes also face the difficulty of usually being trapped with their national federation, unless they are able to switch sporting nationality. In the event they do not make the squad, they often have few places to turn.
Notwithstanding the frustration, the federations themselves face the challenge of limited resources. In the broader sporting constellation, triathlon remains a niche sport and does not have the revenue or backing that others can claim. Being a comparatively young sport, this is in part due to a lack of time and history.
In her Instagram post, Rainsley noted there are plenty of other forms of triathlon right now. Although none offer the same pathway into the Olympic Games, they nonetheless offer a means to carve out a career.
When all is said and done, though, funding and national teams will likely remain a source of contention, particularly for those outside the team, for years to come.
